


When You Close Your Eyes, Do You Dream...?

by 1f_this_be_madness



Category: Devour (2005)
Genre: All the references have occurred previous to this piece, Alternate Scene, And then they lived happily and got rid of everyone who ever hurt them the end, Best Friends, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dakota DEFINITELY deserves better, Dakota and Jake were endgame okay, F/M, Gen, I don't know how to describe this it just felt important to write, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, International Fanworks Day 2021, Kissing, Sobbing, Swearing, Triggers, Very belated addition, Yes it's a horror movie and no I don't care, they deserve better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:35:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29299008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1f_this_be_madness/pseuds/1f_this_be_madness
Summary: After Dakota does something for Jake because of the Pathway, he ends the game.He cannot let that be why she comes, or why she leaves. He is here for her, and he's got to let her know that.Mind the tags, please. This movie had some intense themes and I am referencing what it referred to directly and obliquely. So please, take care.
Relationships: Dakota & Jake Gray, Dakota/Jake Gray





	When You Close Your Eyes, Do You Dream...?

Jake would be lying if he said he hasn't thought about Dakota before. Jokes about who had taken whose virginity notwithstanding.

But they're best friends. They've always been; and she used to tell him everything. Even with mascara running down her face at the party, when she'd said what Professor Asshat did and when he'd asked why the Dean hadn't helped, she rolled her eyes in helplessness, in fury, and sobbed _"I'll give you ONE guess!"_

How he'd rolled his eyes and felt white-hot rage of his own, but the most important thing to him then had been to grab her, and hold her, and let her know that he was there.

He's still here, after she'd come in and climbed in his lap, writhing, rolling, gyrating on top of him and she'd - it was quick, too quick, even as they'd held each other, he held on as she stroked his hair and made him feel spectacular. 

But she's not. When he gasps out does she want to cuddle, she tosses off words so hard, so cold that she'd done what the Pathway wanted. He stares, gulps, feels his heartbeat in his ears thundering. 

He feels as though he's falling.

He's looking at her, and she looks so broken. As if she thinks she's broken.

_"You...made love to me because the Pathway told you to?"_

She laughed, then; something short and sharp and bitter that tears at Jake as deeply, viciously as the first time she'd told him about her father, burying her face in his shoulder and sobbing. They had been fifteen, the both of them; they'd been together and she had said it wasn't her first time -

But she wished that it was. Whispered that to him, rolled over and laughed. "Isn't that pathetic?" She asked.

_"No, Jake. I fucked you because the Pathway told me to."_

She shifts then, tugging her hose back up, smoothing her skirt and lifting her thighs from around his waist. But he turns, even as he sits and breathes and gasps. He sees so clearly how she's just going to go away, leave his room with that broken horrible look on her face, in her eyes -

No. He can't let that happen. She's his best friend. "Dakota," Jake reaches out to her, his fingertips stroking the air, eyes on hers. He wets his lips and swallows, throat working, body trembling. He gazes as his heart slows and his sweat dries and he can't let her leave like this. Can't get her out of his head. "Hey, stay with me. Please." He rolls his chair away from the desk, hits the power button on his computer. A deliberate move that makes her gaze flicker. He spins back, not even watching the light go out on his screen. Watching nothing but her, eyes full. His chest clenches, constricts as she faces away from him, glancing back.

Jake swallows again, flipping his hand, palm up, fingertips ever-so-slightly trembling. He doesn't want her to go. He doesn't want her to think all she's good for is an easy time. He doesn't want her to feel the way she's felt about every asshole guy she's been with.

Slowly, carefully he shifts onto his bed, still extending one hand for her to sit down with him. "C'mere," he says.

She blinks, something shooting through her face. "Jake...,"

"Please," he opens his other arm to embrace her. "I'm right here." And then the kicker, the words he forces past a lump now rising in his throat: "I'm not going anywhere."

Dakota bites her lower lip, shoulders heaving, and then she expels a deep, guttural sound that sounds like it's been wrenched out of her. She dives into him, dropping her jacket again, and his arms automatically wrap around her shoulders as he presses his lips to her forehead and the line of her hair.

Dakota shudders so hard in his arms that Jake nearly collapses on the mattress, but he still gathers her against his shoulder and chest, shifting himself closer to the headboard even as he slowly stretches out, running one hand up and down and up and down her back. Feeling his friend, her warmth, her weight, how she clutches desperately at his shirt, nails poking, digging into the cloth even as her arms especially are tense. As if she's still ready and wholly prepared to shove herself back and run away.

"I'm - this is -" she's sputtering spittle as she chokes on cries, he feels the dampness of tears soaking his skin, cold sliding under his collar, soaking his shirt. "So - STUPID." And he can't take that. He raises his hands to her cheeks, brushing both thumbs under red swelling skin, bleary eyes. 

"Oh, Dakota. No it's not. Hey," careful, gentle breath whispers across her face as bright green eyes lock on her hazel blue ones. "I don't - I can't get it, not really, but I've gotcha." He lifts his hand away from her cheek to stroke her hair, fingers tangling in gold-yellow curls. "I'll go after whoever you want," he curls his hand around the back of her head, murmuring into her temple. "Hell I'll go get Conrad's gun back, just say the word."

Still shaking, the pitch of her voice changes, and she turns, Jake lifting his head in concern. "Dakota?" Only to realize that she's started laughing. 

Sniffing back phlegm and wiping desperately at her eyes, "Oh yeah, you're g-gonna dive into the l-lake?" She blurts.

"I didn't say I was gonna swim, but sure," he chuckles, stroking her hair and kissing her forehead. Holding onto her face as if to hold her up, Jake adds "You've got me. You know that, right?"

Dakota closes her eyes, two more tears sliding down her drenched cheeks. She catches Jake's hand, holding tight, pressing her lips to his wrist and feeling his heartbeat there. Steady, solid, strong. "Yeah, Jake," she breathes. Despite everything she has dealt with, everything she knows, he is here. Being with her. Holding her.

And that... well. If not everything, it's something.

It's a start.

"I do."

**Author's Note:**

> I've been sitting on this work for...a while. Years. I have people in my life who have dealt with these things. With abuse and molestation - it should not need to be said, but it MUST be said. NO ONE deserves that. 
> 
> Everyone who has suffered deserves to have someone there for them. Dakota...she represents so many, and it breaks my heart, but I needed to write this. To have Jake be there for her. 
> 
> I don't know what else to say about this, but I send my love to you all.


End file.
